


A Commonwealth Christmas (a 5+1 Fallout 4 Christmas)

by AlienCupcakes13



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Christmas Fluff, FUCK, Fluff, I FEEL SO BAD NOW, I FORGOT CURIE, IM TOO TIRED TO PUT HER IN NOW IM SORRY, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, and never came across x6, i accidentally killed danse in my game, i know nothing about him, i left strong danse and x6 out bc i dont think strong is v christmassy, i tried my damndest, rated for language, sooooo, wasteland christmas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-12
Updated: 2018-12-12
Packaged: 2019-09-16 22:36:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16962768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlienCupcakes13/pseuds/AlienCupcakes13
Summary: Christmas in the wasteland was vastly different from what Gray was used to. Well, maybe not vastly, but it still needed plenty of adjustment.





	1. Christmas Trees

First thing; There are no Christmas trees.

  
Well, not exactly. There are some in bigger cities, or at least the ones that can afford to grow healthy ones in time for the holiday. Most people will just find a not quite as dead bush and some maybe not completely blown out string lights and make-do.

  
Or, sometimes, at least in the thawed out vault dweller's case, a row of mutfruit bushes draped in lights.

  
"You outdid yourself this year, love. Brightest Christmas I've seen since Diamond City." Hancock croaked out between puffs of his cigarette. He watched Gray from his spot leaning against the renovated Red Rocket. The vault dweller was standing proud, hands on his hips, gazing over his creation.

  
Gray turned to face his husband, pride painting his face. "Where did you think I got the lights from?" He turned back to the decorated fruits and chuckled lightly. "Stole them from some of the tree's there. They have more than enough, they won't miss a few strings."

  
"Grayson Burman-Hancock, I love you, so fucking much." The ghoul said as he made his way to join the dweller at his side. "You know that right?" He looked up at Gray and tilted his tricorn back as he flicked his cigarette onto the ground and snuffed it out with his boot.

  
"Oh really? I had no idea!" Gray feigned surprise as he gazed back at his love, his mouth in a subtle, ever present smirk.

  
"Oh shut up big guy."

  
"Make me."


	2. Santa

Second; Santa doesn't exist.

  
Not in the way he used to, that is.

  
Gray's first December with 'Shaun' was met with a heartbreaking discovery.

  
"You guys don't know about Santa?!" Gray almost shrieked over the dinner table. He slammed his hands down on the table, staring incredulously at the group of adventurers gathered around.

  
"No, but he sounds pretty creepy, Blue." Piper said through a mouthful of cram.

  
"Yeah, boss. I mean, I don't like the idea of some big guy sneaking in and putting stuff in our home. Sounds sketchy." MacCready piped up, through his own mouthful of food.

  
"No! He's not creepy! He's jolly and joyful and he just wants to give presents to all the good girls and boys!" Gray was horrified. His inner child was in so much pain.

  
"He sounds nice to me," Shaun spoke up quietly, looking up at his dad with a soft youth-filled gaze. "He's not like a mutant, right?"

  
"Of course not, Shaun! He's 100% good guy." Gray sat back down and turned to his son. He placed his hands on the boys shoulders and stared him in the eyes, pleading. "Don't let anyone," He stared pointedly around the table. "Tell you otherwise."

  
"Okay, dad!" Shaun smiled and nodded. "Can I... eat now?"

  
"What? Oh... yeah, sorry bud." Gray let go of his shoulders and re-situated himself in his chair.

  
"So, if this big jolly guy is real and all, why haven't you mentioned him befo-" Before Hancock could finish his question, he was stopped by a seething glare. The ghoul raised his arms in surrender. "Sorry, big guy." He then feigned zipping his mouth shut, nodding at Gray.

  
The dweller took a deep sigh, shook his arms out, then continued eating.

  
"So," Gray looked around the table, some of which was avoiding eye contact and trying to finish eating. "What do you guys want for Christmas?"


	3. Traditions

Third; The traditions where more or less gone.

  
Sure, people still gave gifts when they could. And decorations where a thing in the towns and cities. But the little things went away with time.

  
During a trip to Goodneighbor, Gray found himself talking to Daisy while Hancock took part in his mayoral duties.

  
"God, I miss the old Christmas." Gray mumbled while looking through Daisy's shop catalog.

  
"Yeah me too. I used to love Christmas as a kid. They don't even do stockings anymore."

  
"WHAT?!" Gray almost ripped the catalog in half. "No more stockings!?"

  
"Nope. Most of 'em got turned to scraps. The rest blew up with the bombs." She flicked her cigarette into an ashtray, staring into the distance.

  
"Next you're gonna tell me people don't leave out milk and cookies anymore."

  
Daisy gave him a look that said more than any words could.

  
"Dear god."

 

* * *

  
That night Gray couldn't get any sleep. He was tossing and turning but his mind was stuck on these long forgotten traditions.

  
"Grayson I swear if you dont let me get some sleep I will make you regret it." Hancock grumbled, annoyance flooding his tone.

  
"I'm sorry. I just... can't get over how different Christmas is." The dweller sighed, running his hands down his face.

  
"Okay, guess this is happening." Hancock turned to face his husband, looking exhausted even through his scraggly skin.

  
"I mean, I get the milk and cookies, its not like you can exactly make those these days. But stockings? What the hell?" Gray turned to his side, giving the ghoul the most bewildered look he could muster.

  
"A lot of the smaller things probably just disappeared with time. People stopped caring about the little things. It's better to be safe than happy out here." Hancock grumbled into the pillow, looking up at gray through tired eyes.

  
"Hm..." Gray started fiddling with the blankets hem, trying to keep from getting too sad. Hancock, as if sensing this, grabbed the dwellers hand, massaging the back of it with his thumb. "I want us to have the little things. We're plenty safe here, we can be happy too."

  
"Then we'll figure it out. In the morning." Hancock said with a small smile. "Now, please, let me sleep." It was more of a command than a request, if the ghoul pushing Gray onto his back and laying his head on the vault dwellers chest had anything to say about it.

  
"Goodnight, handsome." Gray chuckled, grabbing the blanket to re-situate it on top of them. Finally closing his eyes and letting himself sleep.


	4. Music

Fourth; The music, its all gone!

  
All that's left is whatever is on Diamond City Radio or the classical station that nobody quite knows where its being hosted from.

  
That's what Gray thought, at least.

  
"Hey, Blue! We're done in here! You can come up now!" Piper yelled from the deck of their house, waving said man inside.

  
"Oh, I'm finally allowed to enter the house that I built?" Gray chuckled, smirking up at the journalist.

  
"Sure are! Now come on up before we lock you out for the night!" Piper pushed off the railing and disappeared through the door.

  
"Come on, Dogmeat, we're summoned." The dweller scratched behind the dogs ears before making his way up the stairs. When he made it to the top he noted that it seemed dark as hell inside. He also noted the hushed whispers from the crew. One sounded like an angry Piper telling everyone to 'Just be quiet until Blue gets in.'

  
Gray loved surprises, so, as he was opening the door, he could barely hide the wide smile threatening to split his face.

  
The door creaked open and he barely had a foot in the door before he was assaulted with a loud "MERRY CHRISTMAS!" The lights all turned on to reveal an almost correctly decorated living room. There was a plastic house plant in the corner covered in lights, the dining tables where covered in some large very old and tattered blankets. On top of said blankets was a meal, but before Gray could figure out what they had set up, Piper started yelling again.

  
"Deacon! You forgot to turn on the music!"

  
"Oh shit, sorry P." And, with a press of a button and whirring of the machine, a very familiar tune sprang to life.

  
It took Gray a moment, but the second he realized what it was he was on the verge of tears.

  
"How did you guys find Christmas music?!" Gray looked around the crew, tears starting to fall down his face.

  
"Well, it was hard not to notice how much you loved pre-war Christmas music, so we all tried our best to find some." Piper said, smiling proudly.

  
"It was harder than you'd think. Out of every music store in the commonwealth we could only find one holotape," Nick added. "If it weren't for John sending basically his entire town on a musical bounty hunt we probably would've just given up."

  
"My people managed to find a shoe box in some house filled with Christmas holotapes." Hancock was filled with pride, but it didn't stop him from flashing a shy smile at his husband.

  
"I... I just... oh my god." Gray looks like he's about to fall over. Hancock grabbed Gray's arm and led him to the table.

  
"Merry Christmas, love." Hancock whispered before he kissed the dwellers forehead.

  
Gray leaned into the kiss, smiling through his tears. "Thank you. All of you." He turned to look at his crew, who all nodded their welcome.

  
"Can we eat now?" Shaun spoke up from the other end of the table, Nat and Duncan where enthusiastically nodding next to him.


	5. Food

Fifth, the food is shit.

  
The spread in front of them was less than stellar, but it was the most food any of them has seen in one place in ages. No matter how unnappetizing it looked, it was food, and no one turned down food.

  
"I know it's no five course meal but I did my best with what we had." Deacon, the appointed resident cook, said, a proud smile on his face.

  
"It looks great Deacon!" Gray smiled up at Deacon, who preened at the positive attention.

  
"It looks like shite." Cait said as she sat down and grabbed a plate and started piling cram, bread, and mutfruit sauce onto it. "But I'm bloomin' starving."

  
With a laugh everyone else joined in. Grilled cram, spiced mutfuit sauce, roasted tatos and carrots, barely bread and shitty stuffing. Deacon cooked his heart out. Gray wonders how he didn't notice any of the smells.

 

* * *

  
"This actually isn't that bad, Deac." Hancock said through a mouthful.

  
"Thanks Johnny, I got these recipes from an old cookbook I found a long time ago. I had to substitute a few things and pray it worked but, I did my best. I never thought I'd even get a use out of that book anyways." Deacon smirked as he leaned back in his chair, stuffed from the meal.

  
"Mr. Deacon!" Nat yelled from across the table, earning herself an elbow jab from Piper. "Ow!"

  
"Ye, kid?"

  
"This was the best food I've ever eaten!" The young journalist beamed, Shaun, and Duncan agreeing vigorously.

  
"Definitely the best thing I've eaten since thawing out." Gray added, stretching his arms over his head as he did.

  
"Are you telling me last years under-cooked brahmin steak and overcooked tatos wasn't heaven on earth?" Deacon laughed. "Hey, Nicky? You sure you cant eat? You're missing out!"

  
"I'm sure, Deacy." Nick glared at the spy for the nickname, tilting his hat down to intensify his gaze. "The Institute techs didn't start making us synths biologically believable until they got the anatomical part down."

  
"That sucks, man."


	6. There's always Christmas joy

But, we still have Christmas joy.

  
Gray, upon finishing his meal, had finally started soaking in the room. There where plenty of decorations, a mix of traditional and very much not. The blanket on the table was just as tattered as he thought, but now he notices the Christmas trees printed all over it. The house plant had a paper star precariously placed on top. The brahmin heads above the door had fancy party hats on and some destroyed garland wrapped around their necks. And right next to the door in place of what used to be an old nuka-cola poster was a wall full with small bags, with a letter drawn on each one in what looked to be paint.

  
"Are those... stockings?" Gray turned towards Hancock.

  
Hancock nodded in return. "Sure are. Well, from what you told us we did our best." He pointed towards Preston. "It was his idea to use some old backpacks and turn them into those stockings of yours. Turns out his people run through a lot of them up in Sanctuary, especially the runners."

  
"We keep broken packs in case we need the scraps. We have more than enough." Preston nodded slowly and smiled politely.

  
"This ones mine dad!" Shaun ran up to one on the bottom row with a big white 'S' on it. "And that ones yours! Mr. Preston let me paint the 'G' on it!" He then pointed at the stocking in the middle with a big 'G' on it. It was messy and off-center, but Gray loved it.

  
"Thank you, buddy. You did a great job!" Gray walked up to Shaun and pulled him into a hug.

  
"And!" Shaun grabbed both of his fathers hands and pulled them towards the kitchen. "Papa said we could leave out some fancy lads and mutfruit juice for Santa!"

  
"It's not exactly 'milk and cookies' bu-" Hancock couldn't finish his sentence because Gray pulled him and Shaun into a very tight hug.

  
"I love you guys. So much." Gray didn't try to hide his tears. "Thank you."

  
"Aweh, big guy. We love you too." Hancock pushed out of the hug slightly to place a hand on Gray's face, using his thumb to wipe away a tear.

  
Gray leaned into the touch and stared into the ghouls eyes. "If you guys are gonna kiss than can I please leave first?" Shaun said, looking at his dads, who both laughed at his childhood innocence.

  
"Go ahead, kiddo." Hancock ruffled Shaun's hair before the synth child ran off with a laugh.

  
"So, Gray." The ghoul shoved his hand into his jackets pocket as he spoke, rummaging around for something. "Again, not exact but its the best we got." He pulled out a sprig of some sort, it had a small dirty red ribbon tied around the middle. "Did you think I'd forget about that... um.. Missile... Tote? I mean, it's free kisses!"

  
Gray barked out a hearty laugh. "It's mistletoe, but yes, it sure is. But only if you hold it up. Like this." The vault dweller grabbed Hancock's hand, slowly raising it above their heads.

  
"Well would you look at that." Hancock smirked up at the sprig, then to Gray, who didn't waste any time in pressing his mouth to the ghoul's.

  
A loud bark broke them apart. They turned to see Dogmeat staring up at the couple expectantly.

  
"I think he may be hungry. You want some scraps boy?" Gray was answered with a sharp bark and a tail wag.

  
Gray pulled away from Hancock hesitantly. He gave the ghoul one last peck before following the dog out of the kitchen to grab the pooch some leftovers.

* * *

  
The next morning, Gray and Hancock where woken up at the crack of dawn by a far too awake group of children.

  
"Jesus, kid. It's far too early for any sane person to wake up." Hancock grumbled, covering himself with the blanket.

  
"Give us a few minutes Shaun, we'll join you guys in a minute." Gray yawned out, smiling at the excited trio.

  
"Okay dad! C'mon guys! Lets see if we can figure out what we got!" Shaun led the other two back out of the bedroom.

  
"Ugh, just a few minutes? Can't they open it themselves?" Hancock groaned, still from under the blanket. He was met with a smack on his shoulder.

  
"That's not very Christmas-sy of you, John." Gray scolded, looking down at the blanket lump.

  
"UGHHH FINE!" The ghoul groaned out, flipping the blanket off of his head. "But you owe me."

  
"Of course, handsome." Gray smooched Hancocks cheek and excitedly jumped out of bed, ready to experience his first Christmas with his son.

**Author's Note:**

> i have a trend of writing so late at night and messing up my sleep schedule
> 
> :shrug:
> 
> constructive criticism is always welcome!


End file.
